Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Betty Cooper always felt uncomfortable around people. She was the kind of girl who didn't talk a lot and enjoyed spending more time with her family instead of people of her age.

So being in a new country and a new school wasn't Betty's scene. She was supposed to stay in Riverdale only for the summer and go back to Australia as soon as September rolled in. Her parents had different plans though.

"It's just one year, Elizabeth. Both me and your father got to start our own newspaper and it's doing good, so going back to Australia isn't a clever decision," was what her mother told her when she kept protesting against it.

After a beautiful summer, here she was now, sitting alone in Riverdale High and waiting for the bell to ring. People were looking at her... oddly. "Having a new student wasn't a common thing," she thought. Betty noticed that almost all of them were wearing matching jackets, jackets that made them a part of a group or more specifically, a gang.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice a short girl with black hair and a kind smile approaching. The unknown girl was about to speak when another one (who clearly wasn't in a good mood) stopped her. "Veronica! I said we are going to meet Sweet Pea and Fangs. Are you coming or not?"

The black haired girl, who's name was apparently Veronica, flashed Betty an apologetic smile and turned around, heading towards her group of friends. That's when Betty noticed her pink leather jacket. Pink Ladies. Of course they had to be part of a gang. Apparently almost all of the students here belonged somewhere. But her? She was there alone, without a friend to talk with or a boyfriend for that matter.

That brought to her mind the summer that just passed and a specific boy with dark hair and blue eyes who walked into her life one lonely morning at Pop's.

It was the beginning of summer and Betty's first week at a small town called Riverdale. Visiting her grandparents after two years was a pleasing surprise. She was sorrowful when they announced that they're moving from Australia to a smaller town, near Canada, so spending her summer there to see them after all this time seemed like the perfect opportunity to her.

Her older sister, Polly, had already had the chance to visit them a few months ago, since she's not living with her family anymore but she's already married to Jason Blossom, a kid from her high school. She's independent and happy and that's all that matters (even though Betty misses her like crazy).

Betty spent most of her days helping her grandfather, who was trying to repair his old Chevrolet. She enjoyed these peaceful moments with the people she loved the most, even though her parents kept telling her that she should go out for walk with them and explore the new town that she didn't even know it existed before this summer. Betty was aware of the fact that she was an introvert and didn't really feel comfortable around people, but deep down she knew that her parents were actually right. She couldn't spend the whole summer locked in her grandparents' home without talking to anyone other than them.

Nana Liz suggested that she should visit "Pop's Chocklit Shoppe", a place with the best burgers in Riverdale and a brand new jukebox.

So on Thursday morning Betty woke up earlier than usual and decided to go to the diner in order to eat breakfast there. Her parents didn't want her to go alone (she was a young lady after all and some boys might get the wrong idea), but she was too stubborn and they certainly couldn't change her mind.

As she approached the diner she noticed that it was already full of young people who were drinking milkshakes and having fun with their friends. Going there early didn't help her avoid people like she wanted to. "I'll be the only one who's gonna be alone," Betty thought but opened the door anyways.

The bell chimed, signaling her entrance to Pop's and catching all of the costumers' attention. She kept her head down and walked through all the teenagers who had filled the diner and sat on a booth, far away from most of the customers. Betty was about to ask a waitress to come and take her order when someone sat across from her, without even looking at the girl in front of him. She noticed him first and took a look at his fluffy, black hair. Who was this young man?

"Excuse me? Do I know you?" Betty said after realising that the stranger was about to keep ignoring her and eat his breakfast as if he was alone. He must have been abstract because he seemed scared when he noticed Betty staring at him. The mysterious boy observed her and instantly smiled, taking a better look of her characteristics and her presence.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, you must believe that I'm a total asshole for not even talking to you. I'm Jughead Jones, and you are?"

"I'm Betty. Betty Cooper," she replied.

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you before and I'm sure I wouldn't forget a face like yours," was Jughead's smooth response.

Had he just called her pretty? Was he... flirting with her? Boys didn't behave like that in her hometown, Perth. They were gentlemen, as her mother had a tendency to call them. This Jughead seemed different though. And she kinda liked it, or more specifically kinda liked him.

Betty was already blushing and she couldn't trust her voice, so she just nodded. Jughead didn't stop talking to her. He ordered for her "the best food she'll ever taste" and continued making flirty comments. Betty had a lot of fun (even though her face was red the whole time because of his non stop teasing). The way this boy was looking at her made her feel things she hadn't felt before. It was like his piercing blue eyes were hypnotizing her and she couldn't look anywhere but him.

It was 11am -she was at the diner for almost three hours- when Betty realised that it was time to go.

"Jughead, thank you for keeping me company. It was really nice meeting you," Betty said to him while she was standing up.

"Wait, are you leaving now? When will I see you again?" He wants to see her again? Didn't he just meet her and get to spend his whole morning with her?

"Um, I was planning to take a walk on Sweetwater River today-"

"I'll be there," he interrupted her.

"My parents might be there too, so I don't know if it's a good idea," was Betty's response, which didn't sound as good as she had originally thought.

"Wouldn't it be better if it was just the two of us, hun?"

"Well, maybe..." Betty said, reddening once again. At that, he smiled to her -for what seemed like the millionth time today- and added a "Can't wait to see you again, Coop," while he was standing up and with a salute he left the place.

Betty smiled at him and went to the counter in order to pay for her meal. An older man, who was probably the owner of the beautiful diner, didn't take her money and instead he informed her that "Jughead had already arranged that."

Well, her summer had started to be way more interesting than she ever imagined.

The bell finally rang, signalling the start of her first day in Riverdale High. To say that she was nervous was an understatement. In a matter of a few seconds, the whole hallway filled with many students, who were heading to their classes, complaining about the tough schedule and the strict teachers.

"Just try to be composed and friendly at the same time," was what Betty thought as she made her way to Mrs. McGee's class. Most of the students were already inside the classrooms, with the exception of a few boys, who were still chatting in front of their lockers.

Betty was absent-minded and she didn't see the boy in front of her (what was wrong with her today?), so she ended up bumping into him, feeling his broad chest collide with her feminine figure.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Betty said before she even looked at the boy in whom she runned into. He didn't look angry. In fact, he looked amused for some weird reason.

"It's okay, blondie. You new? I haven't seen you before."

"Yes, I transferred here from Australia," she politely replied.

"Australia, huh? That's cool. Do you like Riverdale?" the guy, who's appearance screamed 'greaser', asked, seeming genuinely curious about her opinion on his hometown.

"It's... it's okay, I guess," Betty sighed.

"You didn't convince me, doll. Why the long face?"

"I just miss home, that's all." Are you going to share all of your feelings with a stranger? Geez, Betty.

He was about to respond to her, when an older lady approached them, turning her attention to him.

"It's only the first day, Mr. Fogarty, and you're already late. Will you stop the small talk and get into the class?"

The guy grimaced and after nodding towards Betty's direction, he followed the teacher and got into the classroom. Well, at least she met someone, even though their encounter was short and she didn't even have the chance to introduce herself.

After 45 torturing minutes in class and awkward introductions, Betty stood in the school yard without anyone by her side. She was used to it (she didn't have many friends back in Australia -in fact she considered only Kevin Keller as her only real friend) but it still was strange. She felt vulnerable, being there alone, while all the other students were chatting with each other and were having a good time.

Betty found an empty table and sat there, ready to eat her lunch, when a group of girls approached her. She instantly recognised the friendly lass from earlier.

"Hey, girl," she exclaimed while her other friends were looking at her judgementally.

"Hello."

Behind her, Betty spotted the girl who made her feel intimidated when she first saw her this morning.

"Veronica, this is not our table. Did you forget?" the red-headed girl said.

"Come on, Cheryl. She's alone and it wouldn't be bad if we made a new friend. You said that we would welcome a new Pink Lady soon-"

"This has nothing to do with this innocent blonde over here. She looks too pure to be pink."

The two friends were whispering to each other as if Betty couldn't hear them (she actually heard every word). After a few more seconds of mumbling and angry glares, Veronica sat across from Betty and encouraged the rest of her friends to do the same.

"So, you're new here. Have you met any people yet?"

"Only a few," Betty responded to Veronica's question.

Betty introduced herself once again (it was probably the fourth time she was doing that today) and she got to know each girl's name. The red-headed one, Cheryl, was the leader of their group, the Pink Ladies. Toni, Josie and Veronica were the other three of their girl gang. They seemed to be really close, all wearing similar clothes and having similar interests.

"Girls, Sweet Pea is coming, I'm gonna freak out!" Josie suddenly exclaimed, interrupting their conversation about extra curricular activities.

"Oh gosh, you're blusing. Don't be that easy, play hard to get," Cheryl commented before a tall boy approached them. He had dark hair and he was wearing a black leather jacket, tight jeans and a blue t-shirt. Betty was not gonna lie, he was good looking. But she had another dark haired boy on her mind, and he was definitely more attractive than any other guy she had met so far.

"Hello, girls. I see you made a new friend, huh?"

"Oh, Veronica forced us-"

"Yes, Pea. Meet Betty Cooper, she moved here from Australia," Veronica said without letting Cheryl finish her sentence.

Sweet Pea was staring at the blonde girl for a few seconds, making her feel uncomfortable. "Are you the one who bumped into Fogarty earlier today?" Sweet Pea asked her.

"Um, yes, it was an accident," she replied hesitantly.

"He kept talking about you, saying how cute you seemed," he smiled to her.

"Isn't he like... gay?" Toni spoke for the first time.

"Oh, he is. He just told us that if he was straight, he would definitely date Betty," the boy explained, making Betty blush once again.

"Okay, enough. Are you guys going to be at Pop's tomorrow night?" Cheryl said impatiently.

"We sure are," Sweet Pea replied with a smirk.

"Count us in too," Cheryl added before Sweet Pea left their table, with a "see you there".

"Betty, you should come with us as well. You'll meet even more people and you'll make new friends," Veronica -probably the only friendly person on that group- suggested.

"Isn't it a school  night, though?" Betty wondered. Cheryl rolled her eyes, while Toni and Josie were holding back a laugh.

"We won't stay for too long, B. I promise you, you'll have fun," Veronica kept insisting.

"Okay, sure." Before Veronica could say anything, Cheryl interrupted her and asked the blonde girl a question.

"Why did you move to Riverdale, Doris Day?" Betty hadn't noticed that Cheryl was expecting for her to answer until she noticed all the girls staring at her without talking to each other.

"I actually spent the whole summer here. My parents decided to expand our time in Riverdale occasioned by a job opportunity," she politely explained.

"Any boyfriends back in Australia?" Josie spoke to her for the first time since they sat, seeming curious to listen her answer. Betty just answered negatively and focused on the food in front of her which suddenly became less appealing. Her mind wasn't focused on her obvious hungriness. Something - or most specifically, someone - was bothering her.

The girls kept gossiping about the other students, but Betty was thinking how gentle Jughead was the last time he made love to her after asking her to become his girlfriend.

"You were right Fangs, she's pretty," Sweet Pea announced when he found his friends sitting in the bleachers.

"Who's pretty?"

"Relax, Jones. We're talking about the new student," he replied.

"What about her?" Jughead asked curiously.

"She is-"

"Veronica fucking winked at me. I think I might be dead!" an excited Archie exclaimed, interrupting his friend.

"You two are unbelievable. You're beating around the bush for a whole year," Jughead scoffed.

"It's not that easy, Jug. Her parents are rich, they won't accept me," And that's right. The Lodges were probably the most snobby family in Riverdale, with Veronica being the only decent family member.

"They don't have to know, dude." Fangs smirked. And their typical conversations kept going, leaving behind the one about a certain blonde haired girl, who had stolen their leader's heart during the summer.

Betty's parents were really happy when they found out that their daughter had already plans with her new "friends". The girl herself was not so ecstatic though.

Yes, Veronica was nice, but Betty never thought that a girl like her, who was 'too pure to be pink', could fit in this world and hang out with her girl gang.

When she lied on her bed that night, she couldn't stop thinking about how she had changed these past few months. This summer brought Jughead in her life, giving her the chance to create amazing memories with him and have fun for the first time in so long. Yes, she was still a little closed off and wary of people, but he had helped her discover another part of herself.

"Baby, come on! I promise, we'll be back on time," Jughead exclaimed.

Baby. Every time he called her that, her heart skipped a little faster. They have been dating for a month and things between them were getting better and better.

"Juggie, I can't leave for the second night in row. My mother is already suspecting something," Betty explained.

"She won't even notice you're missing. I wanna take you to the drive in, Betts, this is our only chance!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. We have the whole summer ahead of us,"

"But after that what? Then you'll be gone," he whispered, a sad look on his face. In contrast to a few moments ago, she felt her heart breaking at his sorrowful expression. She had realized that they didn't have much time together, but she wouldn't let him feel sad because of it. Betty was determined to keep their relationship strong, no matter what. She would write him letters every month and just wait for the next summer to come.

"Jug, listen to me. I know that me going back to Australia after this summer will be hard. I can't stop thinking about the end of it, about the moment I'll say goodbye to you. But what's the point?" she took a deep breath and continued "I wanna have only good memories with you, Juggie. I don't want the last moments of this summer to be full of crying and moping around,"

"God, I love you," he breathed out.

Betty stopped talking at his confession. He had just told her that... he loved her? She never heard her parents say that to each other but a boy who knew her for one month felt that way about her?

"Jug..."

"You don't have to say it back, Betts. That's not why I said it out loud. I just wanted you to know. I think I've loved you since the first moment I saw you," he continued, making Betty cry at his words.

"What do you see in me?" she whispered, her insecurities getting the best of her.

"Are you kidding me? You're amazing, Betty. Anyone would be lucky to call you his girl,"

"Juggie, you're the only one who believes these things about me," Betty insisted.

"I highly doubt that, but even if it's true, I'm more than happy to have you by my side. You deserve so much more than you think, Coop," he continued, making Betty blush at his words. She looked at his face, trying to find any sign that would prove to her he was lying, but she found none. Jughead Jones was an honest man, just like she thought from the first time he met him.

"I love you too," she breathed out, her own words making her emotional. She didn't question her feelings, she was one hundred percent sure that she was in love with the boy in front of her.

Before drifting off, she remembered the way he had kissed her that day and every other day after that one. How those three words had made such a difference in their lives.

Her second day at Riverdale High was decent, but definitely not the best. Cheryl and her friends weren't the friendliest (with the exception of Veronica), even though they let Betty sit with them at lunch. Their discussions were revolving around the Serpents, the gang members that used to go to another school but recently moved to Riverdale High for unknown reasons. No one paid attention to her and Betty couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed.

Either way, she was meeting up with the girls she was sitting next to that night, so after school she was quick to return back to her house, do her homework and get ready. Betty wore the only pair of capri pants she owned, which were blue and they were matching with her peter pan collar blouse. She wore her hair down, something she rarely did, grabbed her cardigan, put on her ballerinas and left her home after saying goodbye to her parents, who reminded to her that they were also leaving in order to visit Polly.

While she was getting closer to Pop's diner, Betty immediately spotted Cheryl's pink jacket.

"Great, just the person I wanted to talk to", Betty ironically whispered to herself. She was ready to walk in the diner, when she saw a boy sitting across from the red headed girl.

Betty couldn't see his face, but he was wearing a black leather jacket, just like Sweet Pea. What she hadn't noticed before was the fact that this jacket had a symbol, a two headed snake on its back, making her feel intimidated. Ignoring her fear and the knot in her stomach, Betty pushed the diner's door and started approaching the table in which Cheryl was sitting.

"I'm scared, J. My parents will be furious if they ever find out," Cheryl said to the mysterious boy (clearly without sensing Betty's presence). The guy was holding her delicate hand, whispering soothing words to Cheryl. These two must definitely be a couple.

Betty was standing close to them for almost a whole minute, when she finally found the confidence to let them know she was there.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Veronica said... Oh my God!" Betty immediately stopped talking and instead she was staring at the boy in front of her, a boy really familiar to her.

Jughead freakin' Jones.

Time had flown so fast, she couldn't even believe it. Betty was dating Jughead for the past two months, and even though their relationship had started as a summer fling, both of them knew it was so much more than that.

"Juggie, I don't wanna go back home. I don't wanna leave you," Betty admitted, holding back her tears.

"Neither do I, baby. These two months have been the best of my life," Jughead replied, touching her as much as he could.

"I love you, Jughead. Thank you for everything," Betty declared, a few tears escaping her eyes.

"I love you too, Betts. So much," the boy said, while leaning in and kissing her.

The kiss was sweet and gentle at first, both overwhelmed by their feelings and trying to show each other their love. Betty suddenly pulled apart, looking hesitantly at her boyfriend's eyes.

"Juggie, is this the end?" Jughead smiled at her.

"Of course not. It's only the beginning," the boy admitted. After a beat she leaned in again and unable to contain herself anymore she pulled Jughead into a fiery kiss. She wouldn't let the last memory of him be a miserable one.

And it seemed that he had the same thought, since he later made love to her on the beach.

"Betty Cooper, what are you doing here?" Jughead said enthusiastically.

"I'm- I never moved back to my home, to Australia. My parents decided to stay here,"

"That's amazing, Betts," he replied, taking a step closer to her but just before he could touch her, he decided against it. Cheryl was looking between the young couple confused, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Excuse me, do you know miss goody two shoes?" the red haired girl asked, a completely disgusted look on her face.

And that's when everything changed. When Jughead's happy and excited look got replaced by a distant one. Even though he was so close to her, he decided to take a step back, increasing the space between them. Suddenly he cleared his throat (a nervous habit, she recognised) and he looked at Cheryl. He laughed awkwardly and shook his head, forgetting the blonde in front of him.

"She was babysitting JB during the summer, Cheryl. What did you think?" Cheryl smiled and said "Right. I was confused for a second, because she's way out of your league,"

Okay, this couldn't be happening. What happened to the Jughead she had met and dated for like two months? Betty was on the verge of tears. Everything she had lived with Jughead was... a lie? Was he ashamed of her?

"Cool it, blondie. Being rejected is common. Did you really think that J would jump into your arms and thank you for taking care of his sister?"

"Cheryl-"

"Life's not easy and you definitely do not belong-"

"Cheryl, stop it!" Jughead shouted.

"I think I'm gonna go. Tell Veronica that I thank her for the invitation, but you're right. I don't belong here," Betty said, a few tears escaping her eyes.

"Betty, wait!"

But it was too late. She started running. She didn't look back, she couldn't. If she saw Jughead behind her, she would immediately stop. She wouldn't be able to take another step, a step away from him.

"Where is Jug, guys?" Cheryl was sitting at the same booth she was earlier with the leader of the Southside Serpents, when Sweet Pea and Fangs approached her.

"Something is very, very wrong with him. He just run after the new dolly!"

"Wait, you mean Betty?" a confused Sweet Pea asked.

"Yeah, her. Apparently they already knew each other. She was babysitting his sister during the summer," Cheryl explained.

"JB? This can't be true, Cheryl. His sister has moved to Toledo for five months,"

"What?"

"Yes, Fangs is right. Jellybean doesn’t live with Jughead and his dad anymore," Sweet Pea agreed.

"So Jughead Jones has a secret, huh? Interesting-"

"You still haven't told us what happened before we came," Sweet Pea interrupted her, an annoyed tone on his voice.

"The princess was sad because he rejected her, she started crying and left. Our dear Jughead is probably proposing right now in order to make it up to her," Cheryl joked.

"What did she do to you? She actually seems nice," Fangs shouted. Before Cheryl had a chance to reply, Veronica and Toni were inside the diner and heading towards them.

"Why are y'all yelling?"

She was close to her home, her dad's car nowhere in sight- her parents had probably already left to visit Polly. Being alone was the best option in her current state.

"Betty, please, baby. Slow down, I need to talk to you," Oh no. He had actually followed her. He had run for five minutes or more just to explain everything to her.

Betty suddenly stopped (she couldn't avoid him for ever after all) and turned around. The way he was looking at her, this vulnerable and broken look, made her heart broke a little. Yes, it was supposed to be the other way around, but she couldn't forget how she felt, how happy he had made her during the summer.

"What is it, Jughead?"

He was out of breath when he looked at her, barely able to stand up.

"We need to talk."

Chapter Text

“We need to talk,” he said breathlessly, markedly tired from running after her for so long.

He could see it on her face. She wanted more than anything to touch him, hug him tightly and kiss him the way she did during the summer. Jughead wanted that too. She probably wanted to forget everything that happened at the diner and forgive Jughead for his terrible behavior, but he didn’t deserve it. Not yet.

“Talk about what, Jughead? About the way you treated me and your clear embarrassment when Cheryl suspected we know each other?” Betty responded. Jughead winced at her words, clearly regretting his previous conduct. “That guy back there wasn’t the Jughead I got to spend time with and fall in love with this summer,” she brokenly continued. He looked her in the eyes, momentary mesmerized by the green of them and after a sigh he proceeded to explain himself.  

“I know, I’m unjustifiable. What happened at Pop’s wasn’t how I imagined our reunion, I swear-”

“Then why? Why did you do that, Juggie?” she asked, desperate to know what was wrong with him and what changed during this time. His heart fluttered at the nickname she used for him, that soft ‘Juggie’ she always got to call him when they were wrapped up in each other.

“I’m bad for you, Betts. I knew you would realize that sooner or later, but I didn’t expect that it would happen that way,” he said and after a few seconds of silence he continued. “I am supposed to have a reputation here. Guys like me don’t usually date and they definitely don’t keep a girl around for a long time.” Jughead sensed Betty’s discomfort and anger when he said that, so he continued in order to avoid any possible misunderstandings.

“But then I met you. I learned how it feels to love someone and be loved. I didn’t want to lose that, baby. But you had to go, you had to leave me. I was thinking of you every single night. I still have that ribbon you gave me after our first date. You mean so much to me, Betts,” he said with a quiver.  

Betty was crying now, not able to hold back tears. Nights of her laying all alone in her bed and thinking of Jughead’s smile and sweet words came back to her mind. Betty understood what he felt. She was experiencing the same feeling as him and she was thinking of their first date way too often.

*

“Well, nice to see you again, Mrs. Cooper,” Jughead exclaimed. He was already staring at her and Betty felt satisfied by the boy’s reaction, considering that she had put some extra effort in looking pretty for him. She was wearing a floral summer dress and had let her hair down, styling them with a white ribbon. Betty had a little trouble persuading her parents to let her take a walk on her own that afternoon, but with the help of her dear grandpa she could have some time alone with Jughead.

“Nice to see you too, Mr. Jones. I’m sorry I’m late-”

“Don’t apologize, I’m just happy you made it,” he interrupted her, and she felt her cheeks reddening. “Have you taken a walk on Riverdale’s infamous Sweetwater River yet?” Jughead asked while starting to walk towards the river, expecting Betty to tag along. When he noticed that she wasn’t following him, he turned around, grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, encouraging Betty to move with him. She shyly smiled at him and proceeded to answer his question by saying that no, she hadn’t visited that place until now.

“I feel honored to be the first one to show you around here, doll,” Jughead admitted and squeezed her hand, making the butterflies in her stomach move like crazy, and feeling a sentimental warmness she hadn’t sensed before. Was it normal to feel this way with a boy she had known for a day? Her mother wouldn’t approve of her current actions and she would actually kill her if she found out that she lied about going for a walk alone. What was happening with her?

“You hear me, Betts?” Jughead asked her. Only then she realized that they had stopped walking and he was standing in front of her with a curious look on his face. Betty slightly nodded but he didn’t seem convinced. “Am I- Do you feel uncomfortable with,” he gestured at the space between them and continued speaking “what’s happening right now? I- I didn’t mean to push you into anything,” he added, looking abashed. She hated that she made him think he did something wrong or she wasn’t enjoying every minute of their… date?

“No, no! I love being here with you, I just feel guilty because I kind of lied to my parents about this whole rendezvous,” she explained and she swore, she was able to see him visibly relax at her words.

“I’m sorry I made you do that; I should have waited until tomorrow to see you-”

“Stop saying sorry, Juggie. It’s not your fault. I’m just used to please my parents and do whatever they want me to do, so it is foreign to me to act like a rebel, you know?” Betty lamely said. Am I making a fool of myself by admitting all these things to someone I barely know?

“A rebel, huh? You’re full of surprises, Coop,” he replied with a smirk. “If it makes you feel any better, I ditched my friends to be here with you and on top of that, I thought of a terrible excuse,” he continued.

“What was the excuse?” she curiously questioned, and she started walking again, never letting go of his hand.

“That I have the flu and I can’t leave my bed.”

“Come on, really? That’s such a common excuse! I was expecting something more creative from you,” Betty said while rolling her eyes.

“Really? Why don’t you enlighten me then?” he proposed and with that they didn’t stop talking to each other. They shared some of their favourite memories, talked about school, friends and family, but also said some jokes every now and then. Betty hadn’t had such a good time before and she definitely didn’t want to leave and go back home, but after noticing that it was 9:30 pm she knew that she would be late if she stayed with Jughead for a little more. He had just finished talking about that one time he and Archie, his best friend, got kicked out of class because they couldn’t stop laughing with their classmate, Dilton Doiley, who forgot to zip his pants after a quick visit to the bathroom when she decided to let him know she should leave.

“Hey, Jug?” she softly said while nudging his arm. They were currently sitting next to each other under a tree and gazing towards the river, admiring the way the moon reflected on its water. Beside the beautiful scenery in front of them, Jughead looked at her and smiled, waiting for her to continue. “I really enjoyed spending this afternoon with you, but I should probably start heading-”

“No, don’t leave yet,” he mumbled, grabbing her hand between both of his own. “I don’t want this date to end yet, Betts.”

She smirked playfully as soon as she heard him saying the word ‘date’. At least I’m not the only one who considered this being a date, she thought. “Neither do I, but if I miss curfew, my parents will probably ground me for the rest of the summer,” she explained to him, not wanting Jughead to think that she hadn’t had fun with him. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m actually looking forward to see you again. Soon,” she added, surprised with herself and her boldness.

“When?” Jughead asked desperately. “When will we go on our next date?”

She secretly loved how eager he sounded. Because she was as excited to go on date with him as Jughead was.

“Tomorrow, same time and same place,” she answered. After thinking of it for a bit, she let go of his hands and she moved her arms towards her hair, untying the ribbon that was styling them. “Until then, you’ll keep this to think of me,” Betty added and handed him the accessory.

He gave her a toothy grin and kissed her cheek before offering to walk her home.

“I’m afraid my dad might be around Pop’s, so…”

“I understand. Goodnight, Betts.”

After saying her goodbyes, Betty returned the kiss on his cheek and saw him blushing, feeling satisfied with herself for once again.

*

He couldn’t handle this, seeing her being a crying mess because of him. Without thinking, he got near Betty and proceeded to wipe her tears, not caring about his own. Despite her anger towards him, she let Jughead touch her and comfort her like he used to do during the previous months.

“I still don’t understand why you acted like this, Jug,” she confessed after a while. He was aware of the fact that she wouldn’t understand. He knows he wouldn’t if the roles were reversed.

“Are you messing around with Cheryl?” she asked without letting him explain himself.

“What? You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t know, you two seemed pretty close and it would make sense if you didn’t want to admit that we used to date in front of her-”

“No, no, no.”

Fuck, he had messed up.

“Cheryl is a family friend and I know she can be extremely rude, and I will definitely talk to her about her behavior towards you later, but we’re nothing more than friends.”

By the time he said that, he saw Betty a little more relaxed but still cautious around him. She didn’t comment anything though, waiting for him to explain the situation to her.

“Look, I- you know that I’m in a gang,” he said. Betty just nodded. She probably had figured that gang was the infamous ‘Southside Serpent’ since he was wearing their jacket. “I’m not a common member of the gang. I’m the leader of the Serpents,” Jughead added hurriedly without sparing a glance at Betty, hoping that she wouldn’t leave him right there because of this new information. After a while, when Betty hadn’t reacted at his words, he lifted his head and looked at her, trying to comprehend how she was feeling.

Betty was staring at him curiously, as if she was waiting for Jughead to make a point. “Is that it?” she enquiringly asked him with furrowed brows. “You acted like that because you’re a gang leader?”

“But, Betty-”

“Have you forgotten what I said to you when you first opened up about your gang? As long as you’re not in danger and you don’t do illegal stuff, I don’t care! You have proven to me that you guys are more like a family than a gang, so why would I care about you being the leader of them?” she passionately explained, surprising the boy in front of her. “The only thing that bothers me is that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me about this earlier. I’m not a critical type of person, you should have known that by now,” she added, clearly disappointed with his behavior.

“Baby, we both know that your mother hates this type of lifestyle-”

“My mother? Are you seriously bringing her up right now? I’m nothing like my mother. Nothing,” Betty shouted. “You know, she wouldn’t approve of us playing backseat bingo, but I never saw you hesitating to touch me while we were at the drive-in,” she additionally said. Her outburst was the proof he needed; he had fucked up.

“That’s not what I meant, I- God! It just hurts to know that you would risk everything, even your relationship with your parents, to be with me when I’m not sure if I can provide you all the happiness you deserve. You deserve the best.”

“Bullshit,” she yelled. Jughead rarely heard Betty curse and she must have been furious to talk like that to him.

“Betts, we’re almost 18. You could easily get engaged by the end of the school year with a good guy-”

“That’s what you want me to do? To find someone else?” she interrupted him.

“No, but I want the best for you,” he lamely explained and saw Betty tearing up at his words. Again. He instantly closed his eyes, trying to concentrate and finally say the right thing. Before he had the chance to properly apologise, she was gone. She started running towards her house, without throwing a glance at him.

He could almost hear his heart breaking into millions of pieces.

For someone who claimed to be a good writer, he sure didn’t know how to express himself in a good way.

*

The walk to Pop’s was torturous. His thoughts were overwhelming him and the realization that he had might lost Betty forever was unbearable. He didn’t want her to find someone else, as selfish as that might sounded. He was just trying to help her understand that being with him might be hard at first. During their time together in the summer, Jughead didn’t have many responsibilities as the ‘Serpent King’. Most of the members were spending their time with their families and didn’t hang around the Whyte Wyrm a lot. Things were different now though. He should attend meetings and maybe drive to Greendale for business.

Jughead wished he could explain the situation better. He wished he wasn’t such an idiot to act like this towards the girl he was in love with.

When he walked into Pop’s he spotted his fellow Serpents sitting at the same booth with the infamous ‘Pink Ladies’. If it was any other day, he would look forward to spending his evening with them and forget all his problems. But he certainly wasn’t in the mood of that today. Jughead was almost ready to leave the shop and take a walk to clear his thoughts when Sweet Pea saw him and waved at him with a loud “Hey, man!”

With a sigh, he approached the table his friends were sitting at and crammed into the small place that was left next to Fangs. Cheryl, Sweet Pea, Josie, Toni and Fangs were looking expectantly at him, so Jughead assumed that they all knew about the earlier ‘Betty incident’ in the diner.

Since he wasn’t willing to open up about that right away, he chose to change the subject. “Where are Veronica and Archie?” he wondered.

“They left 10 minutes ago, saying that ‘they would spend some time alone now that Veronica’s parents are in New York’. I think we all know what this means,” Toni replied with a wink.

“We thought you were going to be late as well, Jug,” Fangs said. “What happened with Betty?”

“And why did you lie about how you know her?” Cheryl demanded to know. Her and Jughead shared a lot with each other and she expected him to be honest with her.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he replied.

“We’re here for you Jug, and we support every decision you make,” Toni added softly.

“Even if those decisions of yours include messing around with Australia’s very own Doris Day,” Cheryl whispered, causing everyone’s attention. Toni threw her an annoyed look and proceeded to approach the topic better than her friend did.

“We like Betty, J. Yes, we’ve barely met her, but she seems like an incredibly sweet and kind person,” Toni said.

“She is.”

Everyone was surprised to hear Jughead speaking, since he had made clear that he wasn’t planning on saying anything to them. “She is the best,” he tenderly murmured.

“How did you guys meet?” Sweet Pea asked, hoping his friend would finally profess his feelings about Betty.

Jughead took a deep breath and without looking straight at his friends’ eyes, he started narrating the story. Their story.

“It’s funny… She was sitting on my usual booth here, at Pop’s,” he smiled at the memory of her trying to be polite and not offend him when he sat across from her. “As soon as I saw her- God, I can’t even describe how I felt. She was like a ray of sunshine-”

“Ew, I can’t handle this level of cheesiness,” Cheryl complained with a disgusted look on her face.

“Please ignore her, Jug,” Josie muttered.

So, he continued talking. He told them about their first date, the second and the many others that followed. He also told them about the way he ruined everything. Of course, he kept some details to himself. He couldn’t bring himself to tell them about their first time and how lovely Betty looked underneath him. Or about the day she trusted him enough to tell him how sick she was of her mother’s behavior and how she coped with it by digging her nails into her palms. Jughead didn’t tell his friends about the way he took care of her that night and that he had promised to always take care of her. No. These memories belonged to them and only them, no one else deserved to know.

By the time he finished talking, he had gotten emotional. Jughead hadn’t realised how much she meant to him and how she had changed him for the better. His friends were staring at him fondly -even Cheryl seemed a little touched by Jughead and Betty’s story.

“You should win your girl back, Jones,” Jughead mumbled after a few seconds of silence.

Yes, he should. And he was determined to do everything to win Betty back.

*

Betty couldn’t sleep the previous night. She was thinking of her conversation with Jughead non-stop, trying to interpret the whole situation. Was he really willing to give up on their relationship just because he thought she deserved someone better? What about her? Didn’t he care about her opinion? Wasn’t her love enough for him?

She was currently musing those things, completely distracted and without paying attention to the Biology teacher in front of her. Betty wasn’t listening to what he was saying neither did she care to find out.

When the bell rang, she quickly packed her stuff and stormed out of the class in an attempt to avoid any Pink Lady or Serpent. She didn’t know if Jughead had told them anything or if he was ashamed to do that, but she still couldn’t risk running into them.

Betty spotted an empty space at the back of the school yard and proceeded to sit there and eat her lunch in silence. A few groups of friends passed by her, but *thankfully* none of them seemed to want to take a seat anywhere near her.

She had almost finished her fries when she felt someone standing above her, forming a shadow. Betty tilted her head and she was met with a girl who was looking at her with a smile on her face. She was petite, with short black hair and brown eyes and she was wearing a cheerleading outfit.

“Hi, are you the new girl?” she asked Betty.

“Yes, how do you know that?” Betty wondered, trying to remember if she had interacted with the girl before or if they shared any classes.

“I’m Midge Klump, captain of Riverdale High’s cheerleading team. It’s so nice to meet you,” she exclaimed enthusiastically and extended her hand to Betty.

“Betty Cooper, nice to meet you too,” she politely replied, shaking Midge’s hand.

“As for your previous question, I’ve seen you talking with the Pink Ladies before and I assumed you were the new chick.”

“Why’s that?” Betty questioned.

“Oh darling, no one who has met them messes with them. You probably figured that out since you’re all by yourself today,” the girl added, sitting down next to her. “Anyways,” Midge continued “would you like to join the cheerleading squad, Betty?”

“Me? I don’t know anything about cheerleading,” she laughed, being caught completely out off guard by the offer.

“You will learn. You already have an amazing body and I can see a fire inside you, and that’s enough for me,” Midge replied, clearly determined to convince her to join the cheerleading team. Betty didn’t know if she would be interested in this extracurricular activity or if she would have the energy a cheerleader needs. She was more of an artistic person, considering herself as an amateur writer and enjoying the freedom a blank page and a pen could give her. Betty used to write a lot these days. She wrote about her summer, how she was capable of loving someone so much but most importantly, how she learned to love and respect herself. And because she did love herself, she wouldn’t mop around for someone who couldn’t make up his mind. She would finally let loose and try something new, something for her satisfaction.

She turned towards Midge’s direction and she found the girl looking at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting for Betty’s final decision.

“I’m in,” Betty told her with a smile.

I’m so in.

*

After three weeks of exhausting practices, learning choreographies and making new friends, Betty was getting ready for tonight’s pep rally. She had just put on her cheerleading uniform – which she knew would once again upset her mother if she was here, because “the skirt is too short for a lady” – and applied some makeup on her face, feeling confident with the way she looked.

During cheerleading practices, she got to know Veronica Lodge. Even though the girl hadn’t done anything bad to her, Betty felt kind of upset when she first faced her at Riverdale’s gymnasium, mainly because of her friendship with Cheryl, who was nothing but mean to her since day one. At first, she was confused. Midge didn’t seem to be fond of any of the Pink Ladies. As it turned out, Midge and Veronica had a ‘frenemies’ relationship, so she had allowed her to join the team. Being friends with Veronica was truly a blessing. She was nothing like her red-headed friend; Veronica was trust-worthy, kind and loyal. She knew a lot about Betty’s problems but never said a word to her other friends, the Pink Ladies, about them. She had even told Betty about Jughead and how he had reacted after their talk that eventful evening.

“He came back to Pop’s after you two ended your conversation and even though I wasn’t there, Toni told me he looked devastated,” she had confided in her one day.

“Did he… say anything about me?” Betty had softly asked.

“Yes, he talked about everything that happened between you and him. Toni and Josie couldn’t remember all the details but judging from the things they told me, you and Jug have a very strong bond,” she had added.

It had been uncomfortable knowing that all of his friends knew about her relationship with Jughead, but at the same time she found it kinda adorable that he had actually opened up about her to his closest pals. Maybe he wasn’t embarrassed about her.

Besides Veronica, she had gotten close with another girl from the cheerleading squad – also known as the Riverdale Vixens – who had nothing to do with Cheryl’s group of friends. Valerie Brown had moved to Riverdale from another small city a year ago, so she had been in Betty’s position before. They hanged out a few times and Betty had the pleasure to meet Valerie’s brother, Trevor. He was a gentleman each time and he treated his sister and her with kindness. He seemed like the ideal fiancée, as her mother would probably think if she met him, but Betty couldn’t bring herself to imagine him being something more than a friend to her.

Truth is, Betty had sensed his extra fondness towards her, but he never crossed any line so it would be rude of her to turn him down. Besides, Valerie was aware that her friend had fallen in love with another guy during the last few months (although Betty never mentioned to her that this guy was the infamous Jughead Jones) and she understood that it wasn’t easy for her to move on so quickly.

*

It was 7:30pm when Betty arrived at the football field, spotting almost immediately some fellow Vixens doing stretching. She grabbed her pom poms and ran to them, hoping she hadn’t missed the whole warm-up.

Veronica and Valerie were there among the crowd of cheerleaders and waved at her as soon as they saw her. “You look amazing, B,” Veronica exclaimed.

“Thank you, V, you and Val look beautiful as well,” she complimented them. “Am I really late?”

“No, we started like two minutes ago,” Valerie reassured her while doing splits. They stayed silent for the next ten minutes, following Midge’s instructions and listening to what she had to say about the upcoming game. Once she was finished and let the Vixens freshen-up, Betty and her two friends headed towards the girls’ locker-room to arrange their bags and drink some water. When they walked in the room, they were surprised to see it empty, guessing that the other girls had tidied their stuff earlier.

“I really have to visit the bathroom, excuse me girls,” Valerie exclaimed once they had left their bags inside their lockers, running to the bathroom.

“Did you see him?” Veronica asked as soon as Valerie was out of sight.

“Who?”

“Jughead, you silly! He was sitting at the bleachers with other Serpents, watching us – well, you – warm-up,” she enthusiastically said.

“Relax, V. I bet he does the same thing every other time. He’s friends with Archie and Archie is probably dying to see you, so he tagged along,” Betty replied.

“Shhh,” she quickly looked around her to make sure no one was listening to them. “This is something only you and some of the Serpents and Pink Ladies know,” she whispered. “But no, this is actually the first time he has come to a football game.”

Betty felt the butterflies in her stomach twirling at Veronica’s confession. Was he really there to see her?

“He’s finally going to talk to you, B!” Veronica added after a few seconds of silence. Before Betty had the chance to share her thoughts, she saw Valerie making her way to them, so she instantly changed the topic.

“What time is it, Val?” she asked her since she was the only one of them who was wearing a watch.

“It’s 7:50, we should probably start heading out,” Valerie suggested, starting to walk towards the door. Veronica and Betty shared a knowing look and followed their friend.

She would finally face Jughead. Oh God.

Would he smile at her the way he used to whenever he took notice of her? Or would he look at her apathetically like she was a stranger?

Well, it was time to find out.

Chapter Text

In a matter of ten minutes (the time they spent in the locker room in order to freshen themselves up) the football field was packed with people. Betty had never witnessed something like that before, since they didn’t make such a huge deal about school games in Peth, so she was amazed with the amount of people that were gathered there at that moment.

Remembering Veronica’s words from earlier, she quickly scanned the bleachers in an attempt to spot a familiar dark-haired boy. The dozens of teenagers who were currently sited on the previously empty area didn’t make things any easier. Before she could realise what was happening, she was dragged by the arm from an annoyed Valerie. “Midge is asking for us, Betty, can’t you hear her?”

“I’m sorry, I-I was distracted,” she tried to apologise, feeling suddenly really embarrassed by her giddiness. Valerie didn’t say anything else to her but instead had already taken her position for the upcoming routine, reminding Betty that she should probably do the same.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Midge exclaimed with a pointed look at Betty, “I want you to enjoy yourselves tonight! Give your 100% and cheer as if this is the last pep rally you’ll ever be part of. Let’s get started, Vixens!” she enthusiastically added with a shake of her pom-poms.

And so she did. She enjoyed herself as mush as she could without a hint of shyness. She couldn’t bring herself to care about who was watching her or not. Tonight was for her and only her.

But maybe a little part of her was still hoping that Jughead would stare at her throughout the whole routine.

Maybe.

Riverdale High’s students were true to their words; Bulldogs were indeed undefeated. After an impressive game Riverdale’s Bulldogs managed to beat Greendale with satisfactory score of 7-3. Even though she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she was now a citizen of this town and didn’t necessarily feel a part of it, she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t happy by seeing them so excited about their win.

Veronica, who was nowhere to be seen by the time the game had ended, was making her way to Betty with a beaming smile on her face. “We’re still on for tonight, right?” her friend asked, referring to the sleepover they were planning to have by the moment they started becoming closer to each other. Betty nodded and reassured her that nothing had changed, but she had to take a quick shower before she would make her way to Veronica’s home, so she could get rid of her current state of sweating.

“Why don’t you take a shower right now at the girl’s locker room?” Veronica suggested. “We will wait for you.”

“We?” I thought it would be just the two of us tonight, did you invite Valerie too?” she asked, slightly baffled with her friend’s behavior. Why would she hide the fact that she told Val to come over? They were all close after all.

Just when Veronica was about to answer her question, she was interrupted by Trevor Brown’s imposing presence. Trevor was the last one to score for Riverdale’s team and he technically brought the victory, so a lot of students felt the need to congratulate him as soon as the game ended. When the boy spotted Betty standing next to Veronica, he started walking a little bit faster – much to Betty’s disappointment –.

“Nice job tonight, girls,” he vociferated when he finally reached them.

“Shouldn’t we be saying that to you, Trev?” Veronica playfully joked, slightly touching his arm. After giving a smile at her, he turned his attention to Betty, who hadn’t said anything to Trevor since the moment he arrived.

“You looked ethereal, Betts,” he complimented her and raised her hand to his mouth, giving it a delicate kiss. Betty fought the urge to roll her eyes at the gesture, feeling kind of uncomfortable at his sudden boldness. This felt wrong, especially the nickname. Jughead’s nickname for her. She gently pulled her hand out of his grasp and gave him a tight smile, replying with a quiet “thank you” to his previous flattering remark. If he sensed her discomfort, he didn’t say anything.

“What are your plans for tonight? You wanna go to Pop’s later with Val and me?”

“I thought –”

“Sorry Trev, she’s busy tonight,” Veronica meddled in their conversation, interrupting her.

“Oh! It’s- um, it- it is fine. Have fun, I’ll see you on Monday,” he said awkwardly and clearly disappointed, saying goodbye to both of them and heading towards his pals’ direction. Betty visibly relaxed once she saw him leaving, thankful that she could avoid any more uncomfortable interactions for now. Veronica put her arm around her and immediately joked about the situation. “Mr. Brown seems a little too eager to spend some time with you, don’t you think?”

“Well, too bad I’m not interested in him then,” she let Veronica know with a hint of annoyance evident in her voice.

“I never said you were, and I’m sure you know that I’m cheering for you and Jug to get back together,” Veronica told her while dragging Betty towards the locker room. She simply sighed, hoping that Veronica’s words would be true and she would get back together with Jughead when she suddenly remember of something else.

“By the way, you never told me who else is going to be at the sleepover tonight. If you didn’t invite Valerie, then who –”

She froze.

No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening.

“Don’t tell me you –”

“Relax, B! You already like Toni and Josie, isn’t that right?”

“Oh my God, you’re really trying to include me to that little group of yours, aren’t you?” she desperately said.

“Trust me, the Pink Ladies can be fun!”

Fun she said? Betty couldn’t disagree more with her.

First of all, wasn’t this supposed to be a sleepover? Why didn’t someone tell her that girls tend to wear a pair of shorts and a T-Shirt at sleepovers and not a nightgown like she did? She felt completely out of place and Cheryl’s continuous glares weren’t helping at all.

“So, Betty. You seem to be spending a lot of time with our dear friend here,” the red-headed girl declared while pointing at Veronica.

“Yeah, we actually- we got to know each other better during cheer practices,” she simply responded, trying to figure out where this conversation was headed to.

“Is this part of you plan of getting back together with Jones? By approaching and getting close with one of his friends?” she continued with a raised eyebrow as if she was challenging Betty to say the truth.

“Cheryl!” Toni and Veronica yelled in unison, looking angrily at her. Josie, who was sited on the floor away from them, was too busy drinking from the bottle of wine Veronica offered them earlier that she probably wasn’t even aware of what was currently happening.

“What? I’m genuinely curious to know what she’s thinking, and I want to know why she’s here with us in the first place,” Cheryl exclaimed, unbothered by her friends’ reaction.

“Betty is here because I invited her. I wanted her to let loose and have fun tonight, but if you have a problem with that, you’re free to leave,” Veronica snapped at her. Cheryl scoffed at her outburst, clearly not expecting her to support Betty that much. She suddenly got up and walked towards the door, grabbing ‘Pink Ladies’ jacket which was previously on top of Veronica’s bed.

“Fine, I won’t stay here to listen to your shit anyway, I have way better things to do. Chuck Clayton will be hanging around Sweetwater River tonight with his buds and he invited me to join them,” she bitterly said.

“Oh, you’re really going to have sex with him. Jeez Cheryl, I thought you were better than this.”

“Have sex? I didn’t know you were interested in him,” Toni commented with a bit of discomfort evident on her voice.

“There are worse things I could do than go with someone, Veronica,” Cheryl replied and with that she walked out of the room and left the house. The raven-haired girl just rolled her eyes and with a quiet “classic Cheryl” she turned her attention to Josie, who was presently staring blankly at all of them. “Hey, is there any wine left or you drank all of it?” Veronica questioned.

Josie passed her the bottle – which was nearly empty – and looked directly at Toni. “Are you going to follow her? Go after her to see if she will actually meet up with Clayton?”

Both Betty and Veronica were surprised at Josie’s questions for two main reasons: 1) Was she actually paying attention this whole time? 2) Why would she ask specifically Toni? Veronica and Josie were close friends with Cheryl as well.

Josie shared a meaningful look with Toni and after a few seconds of awkward silence – during which the two friends seemed to have a conversation with their eyes – the latter stood up and wore her jacket, just like Cheryl did, and proceeded to leave the room. “I’ll be back later, I just- I don’t want her to do something she’ll probably regret.”

And with that, she was gone too. Betty was genuinely confused with this whole incident and a little part of her couldn’t help but feel guilty for what had happened. Veronica wouldn’t get mad at Cheryl if it wasn’t for her and she’s pretty sure the two girls wouldn’t have left the house and ruin the sleepover. She was the reason behind all of this, she–

“How’s going with Jughead, Betty?” Josie asked her, bringing her back to reality, to the place where she actually was right now and out of her thoughts. Veronica flashed Betty a toothy grin as if she knew something about her relationship that the blonde girl had missed. Betty stared at her skeptically, trying to figure out what she was hiding from her.

“I’m not sure,” she confessed after a while. “I bet you know more than I do at the moment, considering that you hang out with Jughead on a daily basis.”

“We do,” Veronica admitted, looking way too excited in contrast of her previous mood and the upset look on her face when she was fighting with Cheryl. “But first, let me bring you some more wine, since Josie finished the first bottle all alone,” she said with a pointed look at the girl in question, “because you will need it.”

“Oh, I don’t drink!” she yelled, but Veronica was already out of the room and she probably couldn’t hear her (or she chose to not hear her). Josie seemed a little taken aback by her latest admission as if a teenage girl was obligated to drink, especially without her parents’ permission.

“Why don’t you change into something more… pretty?” the girl suddenly asked Betty, looking at her from head to toe and examining her appearance. Even though she didn’t necessarily seem judgmental, Betty couldn’t help but feel insecure under her gaze.

“Here it is!” Veronica shouted with another bottle of red wine in her hands, scaring both of them with her sudden entrance. “Gosh V, give us a warning next time,” Josie complained with a hand on her chest, evidently unprepared for Veronica’s arrival.

“I’m sorry, I’m just really excited about Betty and Jughead’s potential reunion,” she excused herself. “Did you tell her?”

“Tell me what, Veronica?” Betty asked her, slowly starting to lose her patience.

“Jughead will probably come here tonight to see you!” Veronica finally said while pouring her a glass of wine. Betty widened her eyes at her friend’s words, feeling furious with her for keeping that secret.

“What? And all of you knew that except for me, the person who’s impacted the most by that decision of his?” she yelled without caring about her usual manners, sounding totally different from the ‘good girl’ she is and who never raises her voice. “Why didn’t you say something to me earlier, V? Did you want to make me feel uncomfortable?”

“No! Of course not. I just- I wanted to surprise you. I know how much you love–”

“This was supposed to be something between me and him, not me, Jughead and all of his friends!” Betty interrupted her, totally bothered by the current situation. “I need some air,” she added and without a second thought, she stormed out of Veronica’s bedroom. The last thing she heard was Josie saying that “I can always share with her some of the guys I correspond with if it doesn’t work out with Jug.”

But no, she would never want that. No other guy could ever be like him.

She was hopelessly devoted to Jughead. There was no ‘getting over him’ that easily.

Ten minutes ago, he was determined to go and talk to her, finally win her back just like he had promised himself after their fight.

Now that he had almost made it to Pembrooke he had started second guessing his decisions. What if this was a terrible idea and he would end up making fool of himself? What if she needed more time apart from him because she was still angry with Jughead? What if she liked Trevor Brown now?

Images of Trev kissing Betty’s hand started floating through his mind, making him shake with rage. How dare he touch the girl he was in love with, especially when that specific girl seemed uncomfortable by his actions? He was originally planning on catching up with Betty right after the end of the game, congratulating her for doing such a great job at her first pep rally as a River Vixen – she really looked amazing with that cheerleading uniform –, but he held back when he spotted her with Trev. He probably wouldn’t have the balls to show up at Pembrooke if it wasn’t for Toni’s reassuring words and promised that “she’ll definitely forgive you if you apologize to her in a proper way, Jug.”

He had plenty of time to think during those past few weeks. He had planned what he was going to say and what he would do if Betty rejected him; he would fight for her, for their relationship. He would try harder than he did the last time, because he knew that he was miserable without her.

Jughead had just arrived at Pembrooke, walking on Veronica’s garden and bracing himself for whatever was going to happen in the next minutes when he saw her. She was sitting at the stairs that led to the building’s front door with her head hanging low and hands arounds her thighs, hugging them tightly. She seemed tensed and he hated to see her this way. Jughead took some uncertain steps closer to her when she finally sensed his presence and raised her head, finally facing him. “They were right,” she mumbled, without looking surprised astonished by his arrival.

“Who?”

“Josie and Veronica. They knew you were going to visit me tonight. Except… Maybe you didn’t come for me at all,” she said, standing up to make her way towards his direction.

She looked ethereal. She was dressed in a white nightgown and a pair of pink, fluffy slippers and she was wearing her hair down, styled in light waves with no make-up in sight. Jughead decided right then that she had never looked this beautiful.

“Of course I came about you, I- I thought only Toni knew about this whole thing, but apparently news travel fast,” he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood and forget his nervousness. “How have you been?” he suddenly asked her.

“Do you care about me all of the sudden?” she replied with a scoff. Jughead noted that she had kept her distance from him, almost five feet separating them. He knew he deserved that.

“I’m sorry if you ever thought I didn’t,” he apologized, realizing that it was probably the only thing he could do at the moment.

“If I remember correctly, the last time we met you told me that you didn't want to be with me, even though I had made clear that I did. How could this fact show that you care about me or my feelings?”

“I didn't say that–”

“I was hurting during those weeks. A lot.”

“I did too. I wanted to come and find you–”

“It's been almost a month, Jug. You had plenty of opportunities to talk to me. Christ, we even go to the same school now!” she shouted with glassy eyes. Please, don't cry, baby. She immediately raised her hand and wiped the tear that had rolled down her cheek. Jughead wished he could comfort her, but then he remembered he was the one who caused her all this pain.

“I wanted to give you some space. I wanted you to figure out if you would still want to see me or even be with me after everything. That was wrong, obviously.”

“I'm pretty sure I have asserted you plenty of times that you're the one that I want,” she shyly admitted not knowing if saying this would make things better or worse.

“You're the one that I want too,” he said breathlessly. “I fucked up, I know. But I promise you, there will be no more secrets or second-thoughts when it comes to you.” His heart started beating faster and he felt like throwing up at her previous admission. He got hopeful, but that wouldn't distract him from his main purpose. He owned Betty an explanation and a proper apology. “I shouldn't have said the things that I said that afternoon. I- I didn't want you to find someone else and I am aware that you would never judge me because I'm a gang leader, he added and noticed Betty taking a step closer to him. Don't get your hopes up, stay focused on what you've planned to say.

“Why did you say all that stuff, Jug?” she asked him. The same question she made that day outside her house with the same desperate look on her face. What she probably wanted to ask him was something like “what is wrong with you and why did you keep fucking things up?”, but she was too polite to voice this thought, Jughead mused.

“I was afraid,” he finally whispered.

“Of what?”

“Of losing you forever,” he brokenly declared, a few tears escaping his eyes. “Because I keep losing things in my life, good things, Betts. That’s what happens to people like me, people who don’t choose their lifestyle. And it feels like I’ve lost you too.”

“Juggie…”

“I’ll be apologizing for the rest of my life, but I’m sorry. I’m deeply sorry for the way I treated you, you deserve better. But I don’t want you to find someone better, I want to become better,” crying again in front of her, just like he did three weeks ago. Betty didn’t say anything. Not a single thing. She was staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face, like she didn’t even hear him. Suddenly, she took two more steps forward, closing the distance between them. She stretched her fingers and grabbed his face tenderly, caressing his cheek and with a soft “I believe you” she leaned forward, crashing her lips to his own.

He had missed her. He had missed the softness of her lips, the warmness that was radiating off her body when she was so close to him. If it was any other time, he could name a million things he had missed about her, but right now he could only focus on the feeling of her lips on his. He quickly deepened the kiss, his tongue meeting hers and Jughead instantly heard her moaning at the action. They kept kissing for a couple of minutes, not wanting this moment to end. Betty was the first one to break the kiss, pulling away from him and shyly smiling at Jughead as soon as their eyes met.

“Will you leave me again, Juggie?” Betty hesitantly asked, looking down to her feet to avoid his gaze. He hated that she didn’t trust him enough to know that he would never leave her again, but he couldn’t blame her either. He would slowly earn her trust back, he thought.

“Never,” Jughead promised with a genuine smile on his face. “But I still want to explain myself–”

“No, not tonight, Jug. He already apologized, we have plenty of time ahead of us for explanations, don’t you think?” He simply nodded and she continued talking. “Tonight is only about happiness, our happiness,” she added softly while stroking his hair the way she used to do in the summer.

“How can you forgive me so easily? I hurt you, Betts,” he sadly admitted. Her green eyes were glued on him, probably in an attempt to read his thought, but also because she wanted to convey her own emotions to him. “You did,” she said after a few seconds. “But I love you and judging by the way you acted today, I can tell that you still love me as well.”

Damn right he did.

“Of course I do. I love you more than anything and anyone, Betts,” Jughead said and proceeded to kiss her again. And again. And again.

After about ten minutes of making out, Jughead pulled back and he made a proposition, his gaze never leaving hers. “Come with me at the trailer tonight, baby.”

“Oh Juggie, I would love to–”

“Okay then, let’s go. I have left my motorcycle parked at Riverdale High–”

“But…” she interrupted him with a raised voice so he could hear her and stop rambling.

“But?”

“I had promised Veronica to sleep here tonight. Besides, Cheryl and Toni already left, so it would be rude of me to ditch the sleepover as well,” she explained.

“Wait, Cheryl and Toni left together?”

“No, not together. Cheryl had a fight with Veronica and left by saying that she would meet up with some guy called “Chuck” or something like that–”

“Chuck Clayton?” Jughead asked.

“Yeah, him! And shortly after Cheryl walked out, Toni followed her. These two must be close than the rest of the group,” Betty said. Oh, that they are, Jughead mused.

“Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow?” he questioned instead, not wanting to say anything more about the Cheryl/Toni situation right now.

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” she pointed out, seeing Jughead raising his eyebrow at her words. “They’re playing Singin’ in the Rain at the drive-in tomorrow, it’s your favourite movie, Betts.”

“I’m sold, what time?”

“I’ll pick you up on seven o’clock. Our usual spot,” he told her and gave her a light kiss that had both of them smiling at each other. Their usual spot was outside Riverdale’s Public Library, the only place she was allowed to visit during the summer (according to her parents).

He couldn’t wait to see her again.

So they started dating again as if nothing had happened between them. They would spend their time together at school, ignoring their friends’ comments about how “disgustingly cute” they looked. They would go on plenty of dates that would end up with the two of them at the back of Jughead’s truck kissing for hours. They started being even more honest with each other than they were during the summer, with Betty opening up about her father’s suspicious visits at Greendale at the night and with Jughead sharing his fears of never seeing Jellybean, his little sister, again.

All students of Riverdale High knew about their relationship, some of them gossiping about how the “bad boy” from the wrong side of the tracks fell for the “good girl” who had moved to their little hometown from Australia. There were a lot of girls who seemed disappointed to learn that Jughead Jones was no longer available and it was evident that Trevor Brown wasn’t ecstatic at hearing the news as well. But neither Betty nor Jughead cared about what people around them said. They only cared about each other’s happiness.

Jughead even started telling Betty about his responsibilities as the Serpent King, allowing her to trust him again – slowly but surely. He had purposely left this part of himself hidden from her when they were dating in the summer because he didn’t want to scare her or drive her away from him. He was happy to realise that his girlfriend was more than okay with that leadership of his and she was even willing to give him advices and help him when he needed it.

Of course, she couldn’t help but worry about him when Jughead announced that he would take part in the Thunder Road Race this year, competing against Malachi, the leader of Serpents’ rival gang, the Ghoulies. He was a few years older than Jughead and he was mostly dealing with drugs. Even though he wasn’t in high school, he still liked to cause problems to the Serpents and Riverdale High’s students, so Jughead – feeling the need to protect his pals – accepted his challenge; he would race against him and whoever won would back off from the other’s territory. Jughead’s territory was now both the Southside – the place where he grew up – and the Northside, where Betty lived. Malachi was mostly dealing on Greendale, so if he won, Jughead wouldn’t set his foot there again.

Betty feared Malachi and what he could possibly do to her boyfriend, her love, but she made sure to do everything she could in order to protect Jughead in her own way. They worked together on fixing Jughead’s old car, making sure that he would be safe while he would be driving.

And today was the day everyone was waiting for. Plenty of Serpents, Ghoulies and Riverdale High students were gathered in the same place to watch the anticipated Thunder Road Race. Betty was currently standing next to Cheryl and Toni – who were trying to hide the fact that they were holding hands. During one date with Jughead at Pop’s, he confessed to her what was going on with Cheryl and why she looked so tensed since the moment Betty had met her; she was feeling confused about her feelings towards a certain pink-haired girl and she was dealing with problems that had to do with her sexuality. Both girls always seemed to communicate in their own way, understanding each other better than others could, but they were afraid of opening up about their true feelings. Cheryl was never planning on sleeping with Chuck Clayton, she just wanted to make Toni jealous. But with a little push from Jughead, they were now secretly dating, since Cheryl’s parents wouldn’t be supportive of this important part of her.

Betty had found Cheryl crying in the girl’s bathroom one day and even though she wouldn’t call herself her friend, she wouldn’t leave her there without trying to help her.

“Hey, Cheryl,” she had said, bending down so she could face the girl.

Cheryl had cleared her throat and tried to dry her tears. “Hi,” she had replied, avoiding her gaze.

“Is there anything I could do to- I don’t know if you want me to, but I could help,” she had offered hesitantly, still feeling a little intimidated by her. Cheryl had immediately started crying harder at her words and she’d buried her face in her neck, hugging her tightly.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Chery had cried out, not being able to stop her tears. “You’ve been nothing but nice to me and I- I was a terrible person.”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” Betty had tried to calm her down, even though she really appreciated her apology.

“Will you forgive me? Please?”

“Of course, Cheryl.”

With that, she had told everything to Betty. Countless fights with her mother, who found her disgusting for even thinking of bringing a girl to meet her and Cheryl’s father, and who couldn’t accept her for the way she was. After that eventful day, Cheryl offered Betty a jacker. The “Pink Ladies” jacket, asking her to join them. For the first time, she did something without thinking the consequences of her actions. She accepted it.

“What are you thinking about, B?” Toni finally said after noticing Betty’s worried look.

“Don’t you know, Toni? She’s nervous about the race,” Veronica butted in.

“I just want him to be safe, that’s all,” she softly explained, looking at her friends.

“He always is, Betty, we can all assure you of that,” Cheryl told her, squeezing her arm in an attempt to comfort her.

*

She was right.

Jughead was indeed being safe and he even managed to beat Malachi – who tried to play dirty by making an attempt to destroy Jughead’s car. Betty was furious at him and she was ready to attack him, when she spotted Jughead coming out of his car and running towards her. She visibly relaxed at the sight of him and she couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face. Once he was in front of her, she grabbed her face to give her a deep kiss murmuring a soft “we did it, baby” on her lips.

“No, you did it,” Betty said as soon as they pulled away from each other. Jughead was about to respond, when Sweet Pea and Archie came behind him and started patting his back while congratulating him on his victory.

“We’re going to Pop’s to celebrate,” Fangs informed them. “Are you guys coming?”

Jughead looked at Betty, noticing that she was waiting for him to answer. “Go ahead, we will be a little late,” he explained and with a quick goodbye and a promise of “see you later,” he held Betty’s hand and started walking to the opposite direction of their friends.

“Where are we going, Juggie?” Betty asked him after a few seconds.

“Sweetwater River,” he simply answered.

“Why? Don’t you want to celebrate with your friends?”

“Our friends,” he corrected her. “And yeah, I want to, but there’s something I got to do first.”

Betty just nodded in response, holding his hand even tighter than before and stroking his thumb tenderly. In a matter of ten minutes, they had arrived at their destination and Jughead pulled her down to sit with him under a tree near the river.

“Do you remember this place, Betts?” he suddenly asked her.

“Sweetwater River? Of course–”

“No, not Sweetwater River in general. This exact place,” he clarified.

Her beaming face told him that she remembered exactly what happened in this location. Their first day and their first real talk with each other.

“Why did you bring me here today, Jug? Should I be worried?”

“Worried? No, no,” he reassured her. They stayed silent for a while, until Jughead decided to speak again. “You know that I love you more than anything, right?”

“You’re scaring me,” Betty replied, avoiding his question.

“Don’t be. Do you know it?” he insisted.

“I know, and I love you too,” she reminded him, while caressing his face. Jughead kissed her hand and proceeded to take off the ring he was wearing on his index finger. “Then I want you to have this,” he said and offered her the item.

Betty widened her eyes, seeming even more confused than before. “Your ring? Why?”

“Consider this a promise; a promise to keep you safe and love you as much as possible,” he explained, still holding the ring between his fingers. “When we finish our senior year, I’ll ask your parents to give me their blessing,” he continued, noticing Betty gasping at his words. “But until then, I want you to have this and remember that I’m by your side whenever you look at it.”

Betty was markedly touched by his words and she couldn’t believe that he already had plans for them for after high school. She didn’t know how to act or what to say, so she opted to kiss him instead. They kissed desperately, both trying to show how much they meant to each other. Once they pulled away, Jughead looked at her hands, grabbed her left one and slid the ring to her finger.

“I love you,” she said again with teary eyes.

“I love you,” Jughead repeated with a soft kiss on her forehead.

They couldn't hide their smiles anymore, because they knew; their story had just began.